RT Article
T1 First Tonsures in England in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century
JF The journal of ecclesiastical history
VO 73
IS 3
SP 505
OP 524
A1 Robinson, David ca. 20./21. Jh.
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1811033164
AB Boys who were tonsured by their bishop acquired clerical status. Bishops might confer the tonsure at or near a general ordination but also on their progress around their diocese or when resident at one of their manor houses. Candidates had to be ‘literate’, possessing a certain level of Latin, free (or manumitted), legitimate (or dispensed) and ‘suitable’. There is evidence of local selection and candidates were examined before being tonsured. Tonsuring could be the first stage in progress to the priesthood, but many did not proceed beyond the first tonsure and others progressed only to ordination as acolyte.
DO 10.1017/S0022046921002153